Apparatus for winding material



Nov. 2, 1937. E. E. FRANZ APPARATUS FOR WINDING MATERIAL 2 Shee'tEs-Sheet 1 Original Filed Feb. 9

INVENTOR E'. E. FRANZ ATTORNEY Nov. 2, 1937. E. E.- FRANZ 2,097,518

APPARATUS FOR WINDING MATERIAL Original Filed Feb. 9, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2,

Ill 1m li' [MIT INVENTOR E. E. FRANZ Rmm ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 2, 1937 4 i UNITED STATES" PATENT oFF1cE 2,097,518 A APPARATUS roa WINDING, ATERIAL-- Erwin E. Franz, Cranford, N. .L, assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application February-9, 1935, Serial No. 5,743. Divided and this application December 11, 1935, Serial No. 53,958

3 Claims. (01. 242-157) This invention relates to an. apparatus for. Fig. l is a broken schematic view in side eleva- I winding material and more particularly to an tion of a machine constructed in-accordance with apparatus for applying strand material and sheet the invention and adapted to wind .insulated wire material upon an article or core at one operaand paper sheets in alternating layers upon a 5. tion in alternate layers. prismatic core; 7

This application is a division of application Fig. 2 is an enlarged'broken detail viewin sec- Serial Number 5,743, filed by the same inventor tion on the line 22 of Fig. 3; under date of February 9, 1935. Patentable su Fi ,3 is a a d r ken de ail vi w in ject matter disclosed but not claimed in this aptransverse section of a portion of a core being plication is claimedin one of the following appliwound in the machine; 10' cations filed on the same date herewith, Serial Fig. 4 is a broken schematic viewin plan cor- Number 53,957, Serial Number 53,959, or Serial responding to Fig. l, and

Number 53,960. Y Fig. 5 is an enlarged detached perspective view In the art pertaining to electrical coils, there of one of the air blast housing sections, is a class or varietyv of coil having a core of either In the embodiment herein disclosed, a core solid or axially hollow form and of either mag-' driving b lt 29 s ver a driving d um 2! netic or non-magnetic material in which an intatably mounted in fixed position and driven by sulated electrically conductive strand is wound a belt 22 from a motor 23. The belt runs also in concentric layers back and forth over the peover a fixedly positioned idler drum 24 and over ripheral surface of the core, which peripheral a tensio-ning drum 25 Whose shaft 26 is supported 20 surface may be cylindrical in some instances or on and urged upwardly by resilientmeans such prismatic in others. In such coils it may be deas a compression spring 21.

sirable to place further insulation between con- A shaft or spindle 28 is mounted as shown to secutive helically wound layers of the conductive lie parallel to the surface of the belt and is adaptstrand, in the form of sheets of paper or other ed to receive and support a coil core 29 for wind- 25 insulating substance, and ordinarily each such ing insulated wire 30 and paper sheet insulation sheet is so dimensioned and applied that its ex- 3| thereon; the wire being drawn as required tremities overlap each other to formacompletely from S DD Y reel 32 and the paper m a closed cylindrical or prismatic surface between supply drum 33 eachappro priate1ysupportedand 3 two complete layers of conductor. mounted in the relative positions shown. The 30 An object of the present invention is to prod u 3 and Feel 32 Will be D V W vide a simple and effectively operating apparatus tomary means (not shown) to afford tension on which may be applied to the manufacture of arthe material being drawn therefrom. ticles having layers of strand. The belt 29 runs against the under'face of One embodiment of the invention contemplates the core 39 or of the wire and/or paper wound 35 substantially automatically operating apparatus thereon and; thus drives the core and therewith provided with means to hold an article such as the shaft 28 in rotation. A distribution control a coil core, means to hold a supply-of sheet ma: rod 34 oriented parallel to the shaft 28 is mountterial and of strand material, and means to ap ed to slide freely longitudinally in a pair of 4,0 ply the sheet material and the strand to the core supports 35 supported in any suitable fashion, or other article in alternate layers, the strand and the rod is provided substantially midway of being applied by a continuous winding operation its length with a transverse perforation 36 which and the sheet being cut to appropriate lengths fits loosely about the strand 30 threaded thereand applied intermittently by a pneumatic dethrough, Stops 31 are rigidly positioned in line vice over each completed layer of strand, towith the ends. of the rod and are so spaced that 45 gether with means to distribute the strand and when a complete layer of strand is laid on the means to modify the length of successive sheets core the rod carried along by the strand will of material to be intercalated between strand laybump against-one or other of the stops and by ers to conform to the changing peripheral size. its: slight rebound therefrom will start the strand Other objects and features of the invention will to'coil in a reverse direction, the distribution of Q appear from the following detailed description the strand in snugly abutting turns during the of one embodiment thereof taken in connection winding being generally effected as indicated in with the accompanying drawings in which like Fig. 2 by the yielding pressure of the belt 20 in reference numerals are applied to identical parts both lateral and radial directions against the in the several figures and in which portion of strand momentarily being Wound. 55 I 7 Cam 42 actuates a similar lever 44 similarly piv- Cams 4| and 42 are mounted on the near and far portions respectively of the shaft 40. Cam 4| actuates a lever 43 pivoted on any convenient support such as the shaft of the idler drum 24.

' otally mounted.

3 porting table ll correspondingly positioned guides of A continuous sheet of paper 3| or other analo gous material, is drawn from thestorage or supply roller 33 and passes over an intermittently.

andunder a 'compleactuated measuring roller 45 V mentary freely rotatable roller 46 mounted on a shaft 41 and urged toward the roller 46 by gravity or, as shown, by springs 48. Two parallel ac-- tuating levers 50 and 5| are secured rigidly at one end to a collar 63 surrounding the shaft 49 inwhich latter the roller 45 is rigidly mounted.

The other ends of the levers are held spaced apart in a yoke 52.

The levers59 and 5| are driven to and fro and 7 turn the roller 45 in stepbyv step undirectional motion of varying amplitude by means not herein further described as not pertinent to the subject matter of the present invention, but which are completely disclosed. and described in the above identified application of which the present is a division.

The sheet of paper 3| emerging from between the rollers 45 and 46 passes over a narrow supthe left hand edge of which forms the fixed blade of a shearing device of which the movable member 12 is the other blade. The near endof the blade 72 is pivoted to the table, and a link 13 is pivotally attached atone endthereof to one arm ofa lever 14 the other end of which is provided with an offset stud 15 carrying in which is mounted an adjustment screw '16 the head of which rests on the lever 44 to be lifted thereby.

The paper 3| after passing the shears I, 12 is received within an air blast housing 17 whose base faces the shears and whose nose "points toward the point of application of the strand 39 to the winding on the core. 29. This housing consists of two substantially identical complementary sections 19 and 80 and a description of either will apply equally to both. Thus the section 80 (Fig. 5) may be a solid block of metal formed on the surface which is applied to the section 19 with a transverse rearwardly sloping plurality of relatively wide parallel air grooves 83 separated by narrow paper guides 84 extend through the nose portion. One or more passages 85 communicate from. the recess 82 to an air duct 86 encircling the whole housing. The paper guides84 may preferably be slightly beveled at their upper or rear ends to facilitate the passage of the paper thereover, there being a narrow space between the guides 84 of the block 80 and the the superimposed block 19. A movable gate normally closes the outlet of thenose 18 and comprises a fiat bar 8| carried at either end on pins 88 upstanding from a transverse rod 89 resting on a transverse member 90 carried by a lever arm 9| and extending beyond the same to support any a valve (not shown) :within the collar which con in gear events now to be described'will trols the admission of compressed air from a source not shown through a pipe 94 to the air duct 86. V

In operation a roll of strand is placed at 32, a roll of paper at 33 and a core 29 to be wound is placed on the spindle 28. The strand 30 is 7 brought through the hole in thevrod 34 and'sefloured to the core at one end of the lateral peripheral surface thereof. The paper is brought be- 2| and with it the belt 20, which, running against the under side of the core 29 and against the strand 30 thereon, rotates the core to wind-the strand thereon and simultaneously forces each turn of the winding to lie snugly and smoothly against the previous turn as indicated in Fig. 2. The core contemplated in the present disclosure is one'in the form of a spool having a central drum of substantially square cross-section and 'en larged parallel transverse heads, Hence the radius of the part of the core against the belt varies, and therefore the drum 25 is yieldingly mounted to allow the belt to accommodate itself to the core in all positions. When one layer of winding is completed the head of the core compels the first turn of the next layer to lie upon the last turn of the preceding layer and the rod 36 bumping against one of the stops 3! and rebounding slightly brings the second turn out beside the first thus starting the winding of the second layer in the opposite direction tothe first.

"I'hefgear 38, driven by a core on the spindle 28, drives the gear 39 and hence the cams 4| and 42. A'sheet of paper of suitable length, prepared as hereinafter described, is at this time lying in the housing 11 against the gate 81. At the moment when the last turn of a winding is completed, the cam 4| lifts the lever 43, the screw 92 and the lever 9| opening the air valve within the collar 93. Compressed air from the duct 94 enters the housing both above and below the sheet of paper through the duct 86; chamber'82 and grooves 83. The sheet is blown forward until its forward edge is caughtby the incipient first turn of the next layer of winding and is rolled around the preceding layer of winding by the belt 20 and is covered by the succeeding layer, the sheet being of such length as to wrap once around with a slight overlap. The lever 9| in rising carries the bar 90 with it forcing the pins 88 and the paper stop 81 up to allow the paper to be blown out of the housing 17. The cam 4| immediately drops the lever 9|, cutting off the supply of air and bringing the paper. stop 8! back over the out let of the housing. a r

Evidently each layer 'of the winding is of greater circumference than the preceding layer and requires a longer sheet of paper to wrap around it. The length of .each sheet is determined by the action of the paper feed roller 45 which is driven step by step by' the levers 50 and 5|.

'When the predetermined length of paper has been fed through the shears, the cam 42 lifts the 'lever' 44 pulling the shear blade 72 down to cut fity'between the guides 84 andrests against the.

gate 3! ready for another cycle of operation as described.

'Thus the apparatus winds strand on a core in successive helically wound layers as a continuous operation, and at the same time measures out, cuts'off, and inserts pieces of sheet material, of predetermined and predeterminedly changing lengths, between consecutive layers of strand winding.

The accompanying drawings are purely schematic, many details not essentially of the invention being omitted as familiar to those skilled in the art, and the proportions of parts being distorted in some instances for clearness or compactness. In particular the ratio of the gears 38:39 will be dependent upon the number of turns in each layer of the winding.

A particular feature of the invention herein claimed is the rod 34 and its function of cooperation with the belt 20. If it were not for the rod 34, the strand being wound upon reaching the end of a layer of winding would tend to be piled up against the head of the spool shaped core 29 instead of winding smoothly back in another layer. Once a layer has started, the belt operates efficiently and accurately as a distributor to force the strand to lie in snugly abutted coils, but the belt alone will prevent rather than effect a rev'ersal of the coiling helix. At the moment when the strand completes the first turn of a layer and is tending to wind another turn directly on instead of beside that turn, the rod 34 strikes the neighboring stop 31 and rebounds carrying the strand slightly back, and the strand is then pressed down beside the previous turn. To effect this result, the rod will preferably be of rigidly resilient material such as steel, hard brass, hard rubber, glass, or the like, and the rigidly supported stops 31 will preferably be of similar material, so that the rebound of the rod from the stop will be immediate and rapid. If the rod were made of yieldingly resilient material or with a yieldingly resilient construction, e. g. of soft rubber, or with axially aligned soft coil springs at its ends, its action would be too slow and would require too large a range of action to be satisfactorily effective. The phrase rigidly resilient is defined for the purposes of this specification and claims to mean having the resilient character of relatively hard steel as contrasted with yieldingly resilien used to describe the resilient character of soft rubber or of a relatively long and weak coil spring. A preferable construction further is to have the rod 34 straight, so that the perforation 36 is in line between its supports, and therefore the strand in shifting the rod longitudinally does not tend to turn the rod and cramp it in its supports.

It may be pointed out here that an important advantage of the present invention is that the pneumatic means therein provided for placing the sheet material on the article, by proper timing of the action thereof, permits the placing of the sheets in position to be caught and wound by the strand without any necessity of halting or even slowing down the strand winding mechanism, as is required in some machines of the prior art having mechanical devices for this pur- Such deceleration and acceleration either makes it necessary to run the machine at a slow average pace or else may be the cause of racking the apparatus destructively, at least so far as its accuracy of operation and particularly of operative synchronism of functioning is concerned.

,being wound against Another notable advantage is the'simplicityiof the means used to place the strand' in snugly abutted coils in each layer of'winding'and to re? verse the winding spiral in' successive layers. There is no complex and delicate distributor mechanism to be driven in swiftly alternated reciprocation. The belt 20, which serves todrive the core in rotation, is made of laterally flexible and even laterally slightly elastically extensible construction, and in virtue of these qualities the belt serves also to guide and seat the wire properly as it is wound on. A belt for this purpose may be made of woven fabric with a rubber or similar covering thereover, the strands of the fabric running longitudinally of the belt being closely juxtaposed and the transverse strands being relatively widely spaced and loosely interwoven. It will be noted that the double function of the belt is to press the strand being wound both laterally and radially of the rotating article both the article and the previous turn of strand, and that this pressure is effected at the point of application of the strand to the article. The belt is effective for its purposes whether sheet material is being intercalated between layers of strand or not, and istherefore not limited in use to winding both types of material simultaneously.

The embodiment herein disclosed is illustrative only and maybe widely modified and departed from without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as pointed out in and limited solely by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus for winding strand material on articles and having means to support an article to be wound, means to distribute strand material thereon in successive spirally wound layers, in combination with means to reverse the spiral at the end of each layer, the said reversing means comprising a freely reciprocable rod of rigidly resilient material having a perforation therein through which the strand being wound passes and thereby reciprocates the same in a direction transverse to the strand, said rod being operated at such a speed as to result in a rebound at the end of its traverse in either direction and a stop member positioned to be abutted against by the, rod'when the spiral is to be reversed.

2. In an apparatus for winding strand material on articles and having means to support an arti cle to be wound, means to distribute strand material thereon in successive spirally wound layers, in combination with means to reverse the spiral at the end of each layer,the said reversing means comprising a rigidly resilient and freely reciprocable member through which the strand being wound passes and thereby reciprocates the same in a direction transverse to the strand, supports for said member spaced apart a distance at least as great as the length of a layer of the winding and a rigid stop member positioned to be abutted against by the reciprocable member when the spiral is to be reversed, the parts being so proportioned and arranged that the point of con.- tact of the strand with the reciprocable member and the direction of motion of the member are one line with the supports of the member.

3. In an apparatus for winding strand material on articles and having means to support an article rotatably, a flexible belt running against the article to rotate the same and to distribute a strand being wound thereon by the rotation thereof, in combination with means to reverse thespiral 'ofthe strand at the end of a layer thereof, the said reversing means comprising a painof: supports one on each side of a strand being wound, 'a straight rod of rigidly resilient material disposed transversely to thestrand and mounted in the supports to be freely reciprocable therein in a direction transverse to the strand,

the rod' having a perforation therein through which the strand passes and whereby the strand reoiprocates the rod, and a stop rigidly mounted at either end of the path of the rod to be abutted by the rod. I I v V V ERWIN E. FRANZ. 

